Tips For Senior Shooters

Above, at our shooting range in New Mexico. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Everyone with whom I hang out with in New Mexico are all of the same age group as I am (60+).

Years ago, some of us 30-somethings used to laugh when we were on camping trips with various chapters of E Clampus Vitus. Sitting around campfires with senior members, it seemed that all they just talked about were their aches and pains along with other ailments. 

Now that friends and I are at the age they were at, we are discussing the same things. That also goes for our "Jamestown gang". They is now us!

Aging is still better than the alternative, even though we have to find ways to cope with what it brings.

That goes for shooting. The eyes aren't what they used to be (along with hearing). The American Rifleman, the online magazine version by the NRA, has an article from 2022 with tips for senior shooters.

It starts with:

In his January 2020 article, “The Aging Defender,” then-Managing Editor Kelly Young did an admirable job in chronicling his interview with doctor of physical therapy Joseph Logar—who is also national manager of the NRA’s Adaptive Shooting Program—about the effects of aging on today’s shooters. And while Young’s article should be required reading for every NRA member, I had some issues with it—primarily that it was the article I had wanted to write ever since my personal odometer passed the 65-year mark more than a few birthdays ago.

But Kelly beat me to the draw, editorially speaking, and, to make matters worse, there was the irony of his surname. However, in the spirit of full disclosure, Young readily admitted to being “… a few years shy of 40” at the time. I, on the other hand, have spent more than 40 years (and counting) in a gun-writing career that has taken me from the deserts of Arizona to the jungles of Africa. In the process, I have encountered countless .22 rimfires, muzzleloaders, handguns, rifles and shotguns, from both the hunting and collecting perspectives. Consequently, I feel I am eminently qualified to write about the challenges of being a senior-citizen shooter. So, as an addendum to Young’s article, here are a few other age-related tidbits that I have personally discovered and that will hopefully be of benefit to some of our more “seasoned” NRA members.

To read the full article, go here.